On Sunday, Manchester United travelled the short distance to the Etihad Stadium and conquered their cross-city rivals Manchester City 3-2.

The major talking point wasn’t Rooney’s opener: a neat, planted header into the top corner; nor was it City’s response: nearly levelling after going into the half-time break 3-0 down. It wasn’t even the return of 37 year-old Paul Scholes’s return to action for the Red Devils despite retiring in the summer. No, the major talking point of the 162nd Manchester derby is Chris Foy’s 12th minute dismissal of City captain Vincent Kompany.

A red card for the innocuous challenge – a clean, ball-winning tackle on Nani that didn’t even knock the Portuguese over – was ludicrous, and the Citizens have recently found out their appeal against Kompany’s four-match ban (he received a red card earlier in the season so would have to sit out an additional game) has been rejected by the FA on the grounds that it was “serious foul play” and, I expect, in a bid to support Foy amidst much referee criticism over the past few years; and also to butter-up United boss Sir Alex Ferguson.

As for referee Chris Foy, it is unlikely that he will officiate a Manchester derby again. Not only was the expulsion of the Manchester City skipper incorrect, he also missed numerous other calls, such as a handball in the penalty area at 2-3, which, if a penalty had rightly been given, would have topped off a hapless performance by Manchester United defender Phil Jones. Throughout the game, Foy continually ruled in favour of the away side.

So, Foy will probably never preside a tie between these rivals ever again, and he will be unlikely to work a similarly emotionally-charged tie for a while, but should he have been given the role in the first place?

Chris Foy hails from St. Helens in Merseyside, which is between Manchester and Liverpool. The town is rugby league mad: it seems every car, shop and bedroom window is adorned with the red-and-white of their team – think Montreal during the Stanley Cup playoffs. On weekend evenings, however, I personally found the streets to instead be flashing blue-and-white as police cars and ambulances attempt to stave off the treat of locals who love to indulge in fisticuffs and petty crime after a skinful of lager. Let’s just say you wouldn’t spend your holidays there.

As for football, the rivalry between St. Helens and nearby Liverpool dictates that a lot of the town’s inhabitants follow Manchester United.

Now, despite being a Manchester City fan (you may have guessed), I’m not bitterly suggesting that Chris Foy was jumping and clapping on hearing that Paul Scholes had re-signed for United. What I’m merely suggesting is that when a referee is from the same small country in which he is officiating, let alone just a 40 minute drive away from the game he’s in charge of, surely he has some ties – be it his family, friends, whatever – that makes him favour one side over the other? Yes, it’s the argument of whether the Premier League, and other leagues, should take referees from abroad.

This is how it should work: a Belgian referee (let’s call him Randy for ease) from south Antwerp who’s previously been a season ticket holder at Koninklijke Beerschot Antwerpen Club would obviously have biases against certain teams, namely Royal Antwerp FC, so could instead officiate in England where he has no team preferences.

However, in practice it would probably work like this: due to football being a global sport, Randy does have biases, such as disliking Manchester United due to their status as Royal Antwerp’s parent club, or allowing Everton’s Marouane Fellaini to elbow as many opponents as he likes because he’s Belgian. Everyone has their biases and loyalties.

And, if the Premier League took referees from other parts of Europe, it could mark the end of the tough-tackling Premier League. English football is known to be more lenient which physical challenges than their European counterparts, so even if Chris Foy hadn’t been in charge and, say, a Spaniard, a Norwegian, or even Randy had been preferred, Vincent Kompany could have still been wrongly dismissed.

So, for now, it looks like Englishmen will continue mess up English games, Italians will take payments to ensure Juventus win in Serie A, but, luckily for you lot, North America is massive so your referees should be quite impartial!